catch-all | OPEN

[rootstalks]

Who: Jin Ling, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and HOUSEGUESTS (that's you!).
When: All times
Where: The Jin-Jiang classy house in the Haven
What: Catch-all for household events and visitors! Bolded sections are intentional prompts, but wildcard as you like!
Warnings: Probably some drama at some point. Also monster transformation body horror (harpy, turnskin, merrow). Definitely at least 2.5 discussions about murder. One really, really uncomfortable dinner party.

Entrance Hall

Now that the house’s new residents are more settled in, they’re ready to accept visitors. The first thing you will notice as you enter the door is the art hung on the wall: Intricately crafted wood carvings of the Jiang lotus and the Jin peony emblems, bookending a framed photograph of Jiang Yanli and her two brothers, only one of whom actually lives there, from the day of Wei Wuxian’s wedding the previous month.

There is room on the wall for more pictures to be hung, as now that Jin Zixuan has discovered the wonders of photography, he intends to immortalize all his loved ones in living color as often as possible. The Yunmeng Jiang clan is already honored, so the next step is to commission a father and son portrait to represent Lanling Jin.

In a small, round room off the entrance hall, memorial tablets have been set up for the Jiang parents, carved from a lacquered wood and set into a cabinet.

Courtyard

The spacious courtyard in the center of the house provides a perfect place for the cultivators in the house to continue their training. Sure, they don’t have golden cores anymore and are all turning into different kinds of monsters, but that is no excuse to allow their skills to deteriorate from lack of practice. Archery targets are set up along one wall, and there is plenty of space around the central fountain for sparring with swords or other weapons they may acquire. Of course, as the courtyard becomes repurposed into a training ground, the genteel furniture, ornate chairs and potted plants, get moved into storage in the basement to provide more room to move around. It may not give off the same level of elegance as other classy houses in the neighborhood, but for the cultivators? It begins to make this feel more like home.

Sometimes, and to her mild distress, Yanli is herded out into the courtyard and set in front of an archery target. There, she practises spells, mouth thin with nerves. It’s easier, as might be expected, when she’s accompanied by either a member of the household, or another witch. One target bears the scorch marks from her first and only attempt at evocation, but it’s clear she’s developing a preference for defensive spellcraft. With it being nearly impossible to convince any member of the household to shoot an arrow at her, there is now a small stack of little beanbags under one awning, in a wicker basket.

When she isn't required, or her master is working or training, Fairy the spiritual hound can be found lounging around the courtyard, keeping an eye on things, and barking.

Kitchen

The kitchen is walled with cabinets and shelves, the room airy enough that some storage is too high for Jiang Yanli to reach comfortably. Sometimes, when she feels brave, she plucks the ingredient or tool she wants with a polite gesture and a flick of magic. Mostly, she resorts to a short iron stepladder that doubles as a stool for casual visitors (or opportunistic scavengers).

It’s not what she’s used to, but working in the bakery is a crash course in the average Aefenglom kitchen, and it only takes a few days for her to arrange everything the way she likes it. The novelty of cooking in a kitchen of her own, rather than invading the space of the cooks, and apologising to servants as she got in their way (or, not apologising, because one shouldn’t, but smiling in a way that allowed it to go unsaid)... it’s heady. She prepares too much, spends her wages on interesting ingredients; one shelf at shoulder height fills with scraps of paper and borrowed books. If she finds herself looking over her shoulder before she carries a pile of bowls into the scullery… well, at least everyone is too polite to mention it.

And that much food means she has an easy excuse to do what she does best: feed her loved ones. Either by arranging a family meal, refamiliarising herself with their tastes and spending an enjoyable evening offering this and that into their bowls, basking in conversation, or by inviting a friend home, and spending an evening in conversations about other worlds, about magic, about the workings of the city and the developments of the mirrorbound.

'Music Room’

The upstairs loft is a large studio room with tall windows along the front wall to let lots of light into the space. Where normally one might expect to see a grand piano or other instruments (the space was obviously intended to be a music salon), there is instead a haphazard mess of materials, mostly branches and straw that have been pulled in from trees outside, mixed with some pillows and thick blankets. For a long time, it just looks like a mess, like whoever has gathered these mismatched items has a hoarding problem. But slowly, surely, it begins to take shape into a massive nest that takes up a good third of the room. Little by little, more pieces get added to the nest. More wood to expand the walls-- including several chairs stolen from the dining room-- more soft things to line the interior. As far as Jin Zixuan is concerned, it is a very respectable collection, not a nest, and the more refined he can make it look, the less embarrassed he is by his compulsion to build it.

(All the other members of the household know that it is a nest and call it such behind Jin Zixuan’s back, but to allow him to save face they refrain from mentioning that particular word in front of him.)

Bedrooms

Generally the bedrooms, all in the central floor of the house, are architecturally similar and decorated much alike, but each has begun to accumulate the detritus of their lives. Souvenirs, gifts, laundry, half-finished projects and belongings from home now set on the walls or on stands to be secured. And, occasionally, other things.

In Jin Ling’s room, the general paraphernalia of a teenager, along with a large dog bed, usually covered in kittens and their canine general.

In Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli’s room, on the day of the full moon, they awake to a truly alarming amount of feathers. But generally, their room is impeccable, a mix of pale woods, brass and soft furnishings - especially since they’ve started to spend time in the nest instead.

In Jiang Cheng’s room, it is for the most part neat and everything in its place, with most decor items either being purple or light green in color. The bed is usually occupied by a calico kitten with the ability to teleport.

Basement

The basement of the home comes equipped with a wine cellar, a dusty bottle or two of cabernet left over from the house’s previous occupants. However, the family now inhabiting the residence prefers rice wine or other grain based alcohols over wine made from grapes or other fruit. So as time goes on, the shelves of the wine cellar accumulate ceramic jugs of báijiǔ and other more familiar liquors. Until such time as they need to break out a bottle or five.

Comments

[weatherscience]

Ah — [ she ends up shaking her head, laughing lightly. ]

No, I don't think I've got any sword skills in me! See — [ grabbing her clima-tact, she squeezes it and it extends into a long staff that she twirls rather effortlessly. ]

I can use this to block a sword, but that's it!

[ then, answering his question, ] Ah, yeah! Can't you smell it in the air? It's definitely going to rain! [ best just believe her sixth sense about the weather... the one thing this world didn't take away. ]

[lotus_of_rage]

[Good. That is for the best. You didn't want to be on the side of having to learn from him. He was a very serious teacher when it came to swordsmanship.

He couldn't help but be surprised and impressed when she suddenly pulled out the clima-tact and showed it off. Also he didn't fight with a staff so he wouldn't have been able to teach it]

Well, then if you would like to practice to see if you can block, I can grab one of the practice swords or I can use Sandu.

[He thought about it for a moment as though he might be able to tell based on smell too] Hmm... perhaps. I am curious to see.

[weatherscience]

Hmm... that might not be a bad idea! Usually back home I never train, we just end up in fights so often that it's not really necessary, and there I'd be able to create lightning and all that. But here this is just a regular staff, so —

[ really, practicing at least a little would probably be a good idea. what if she tries to rely on spells and messes up? it's been a long time when the only weapon she had was a regular bo staff. ]

Right, a few rounds won't be too bad! No time like the present, right? [ before it starts to rain.

she turns to face him, fully intending to fight in her high heels, gripping the clima-tact with two hands and positioning it in front of her. ]

[lotus_of_rage]

Training when you get the chance is always good. Hopefully you don't end up in as many fights here.

[Create lightning though... that sounded impressive! That was a heck of a talent]

Exactly. If you are going to, you might as well.

[He raised Sandu into a starting position and then beckoned her to make the first move. Since he had never seen her fight, he wanted to get an idea of how she fought]

[weatherscience]

Well, I don't have the biggest troublemakers here with me, so it should be alright...

[ she sighs, her palm against her cheek. if it's just her, she's very good at staying out of trouble. it's just that the rest of her crew mates are decidedly terrible at that.

realizing that he wants her to start, she twirls the clima-tact, throwing it in the air... and upon catching it, letting it extend far enough to charge at him like a spear. doing so, she takes off running, with startling speed, and hoping he's focused on the spear suddenly trying to hit him, she throws herself into a slide right past him.

then, the clima-tact retracts back to her hand as she twirls around to face him.... or his back, depending how he's reacted. ]

[lotus_of_rage]

That's good at least. Hate for that to happen.

[Which... he would. He would hate for her to get in trouble just because of others from her group. He liked her and that was a nuisance to her.

Of course, he was focused on the spear coming right at him. He did make a swing at the clima-tact as she slid passed before whirling around to face her]

Impressive. Very impressive.

[weatherscience]

Thanks!

[ she answers, with a quick grin and a light laugh. then, she lets the clima-tact extend again into the length of a regular bo-staff, and tilts her head. ]

Come on, you're not going easy on me, are you?

[lotus_of_rage]

[He smirked as she re-extended the clima-tact]

Of course not.

[With that he made his own move towards her, brandishing Sandu. He was aiming to either hit her staff or come up short if the staff was not in his way. It was training, not injuring someone]

[weatherscience]

[ luckily, she is well used to blocking a sword, and she twirls her staff to intercept his strike, though having to step back with one foot to absorb the impact.

with a grin, ]

Now we're talking! [ it's... strange — she's not one to like training like this much, but sparring with jiang cheng is actually quite fun. ]

I think this is the first time I've seen your sword drawn! Does it have a name? [ because why not chat while fighting, right... and she's curious. zoro definitely has names for all his swords, so she thinks it's normal practice. ]

[lotus_of_rage]

[He grinned at her comment, pleased that she was getting into it as well. It was always fun when someone got into sparring like this. It was boring otherwise.

Sure why not, let's chat while fighting. A perfectly normal thing to do]

It's called Sandu. Three poisons.

[He made another swing, intending for her to block again]

Yours?

[weatherscience]

[ easily, she twirls the clima-tact to meet the swing, blocking it and then letting the baton extend again, this time towards him, to try and hit him. ]

Sandu? Hm, I like that! A good sword name has to be intimidating, right?

[ at his question, she laughs lightly. ]

Eh, I haven't really given this an actual name, it's just called the Sorcery Clima-Baton... but my attacks back home all have names, at least! [ as per Real Shounen Style, it's not an efficient attack if it's not named! ]

[lotus_of_rage]

[As the baton flew towards him, he propelled himself backward to be away from it. As soon as he had the space to do so, he swung his sword to knock it to the side]

Of course, it does.

[Probably less impressive when you realized the three poisons referred to a Buddhist text, but he didn't have to mention that. Let it seem intimidiating]

Your attacks have names? Hmm... I suppose some do that, but it is not common to name attacks. Any you can share?

[Don't damage the house or scare the cats]

[weatherscience]

[ as soon as he successfully deflects the clima-tact, she lets it retract back into its original length. ]

Ehh, really? I think in our world everyone has names for all their attacks... [ she'd never thought it a cultural difference, but rather something everyone quite simply did. of course attacks had names! how else would they be your signature ones? ]

Mm, I guess! I'll show you thunderbolt tempo at a different time, it's a bit much here.... but —

[ instead of trying to hit him with the clima-tact, she instead twirls it, and hopes that her practice of illusion spells has progressed. she calls out, ]

Mirage tempo! [ and with the twirls of her clima-tact, she disappears from sight.

back home, it would cover her for longer; here, she only has a few seconds to walk round him (silently, as the spell takes away all signs of her presence), sneak behind him and swiftly grab the wrist that holds sandu, right before the spell wears out. ]

Gotcha!

[lotus_of_rage]

[Nah, they named weapons because they had a soul and it was disrespectful to not give them names to be referred to. Aside from Gusu Lan having songs that they played, naming attacks wasn't quite a thing.

Just based on the name, he was curious about the attack that thunderbolt tempo produced (knowing that he'd have to be far enough away way from that since he was a merrow), but the mirage tempo did get an eyebrow raise... until she disappeared from sight.

He glanced around quickly, trying to spot her, but obviously failed only for her to make it over to him and grab his wrist]

That is impressive.

[weatherscience]

[ she can't help but beam at him, stepping back as she lets go of him. ]

Thanks! Back home, I'd do it by manipulating air temperatures and creating a mirage that can hide you for as long as you want... but here, my illusion spells don't really work for much longer than this, yet.

[ she sighs — it's a pain, having to reinvent the same things she used to be able to do just fine, back home... oh well!

swiftly, nami attempts to switch back to a fighting stance... except when she moves her right foot back, she suddenly meets two little obstacles: tangerine and li mei have decided to suddenly teleport in their playtime, and as cats are wont to do, they end up right between her legs, tripping her well enough to make her lose her balance. ]

Ah —

[lotus_of_rage]

A shame. Having to start over.

[It really was. He knew the feeling. He wanted Zidian to work. He knew now it was probably for the best it didn't since it was electric, but still!

Jiang Cheng started to assume a fighting stance as well, at least until he sees Nami start to go down, helped by two cats who had teleported into the fray. As she started to go down, he did instinctively dodge forward to catch her... by looping an arm around her waist]

[weatherscience]

[ it sucks... but that's alright! she's dealt with worse, and she's determined to learn. and what's more, here she can learn actual magic, more than she could do back home.

she yelps as she starts to fall down, bracing for impact... but when it comes, it's far different from what she expects. on instinct, she lifts her arms and loops them around his shoulders, to hold on better —

and really, the fact is that she's well used to luffy simply grabbing her or carrying her around when the situation calls for it! so she should be used to being caught like this... and yet, it's different.

blinking up at jiang cheng, nami feels her cheeks redden. ] Ah... thank you.

[lotus_of_rage]

[He couldn't help but blink a but in surprise as she suddenly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He hadn't quite expected that. But it wasn't unwelcome.

Even so, he felt his cheeks go hot and helped her back to her feet] You're welcome.

[And now to the cats] Stop being underfoot.

[Li Mei just mewed at her owner and rolled around like she was cute. Which... she was]

[weatherscience]

[ she's quick to step back, as soon as she's upright again, though not before smoothing the fabric of his robe that she'd bunched up by holding on to him.

then, she glances at li mei, sighing. ]

Right, right, you're very cute, we know. Were you mad we weren't paying attention to you two? [ swiftly, she bends down to pick up li mei with one hand and tangerine with the other, holding them so that she can drop a kiss to both their heads. ]

There! Happy now?

[lotus_of_rage]

[Gasp! She was fixing his clothes and making him more presentable! Not that... he really seemed to care that a woman he probably would have told his sister was "just a friend" was fixing his clothes...]

Seems so. I guess we should put the training on hold and do it at a time when they are more occupied.

[Li Mei mewed happily and began purring at getting attention]

[weatherscience]

[ well, of course! wouldn't do for his clothes to look rumpled! not that she thought there was anything strange in her doing it, either. ]

Mm, let's do that. [ she sets the kittens down and attaches the clima-tact back to her leg so it's out of the way. then she starts making her way to somewhere they can sit down and let the kittens play around them. ]

By the way, there's something I've wanted to ask you. A few days ago I came here to practice with Yanli-chan, and she asked if I was here to see you... and she called you A-Cheng. And Wei Wuxian, when he spoke about you, called you Jiang Cheng. [ she tilts her head, confused. ] But isn't your name Jiang Wanyin? Why are both your siblings calling you different names?

[lotus_of_rage]

[Since they were reluctantly pausing training due to cats, he started to lead in the direction of somewhere they could sit and keep an eye on the two kittens as they played.

He glanced over at her at the question]

We have multiple names. My birth name is Jiang Cheng. My courtesy name is Jiang Wanyin. My title is Sandu Shengshou. When my sister puts "A" in front of my name that's even more familiar.

I suppose we have been friends long enough that "Jiang Cheng" would not be inappropriate.

[Given that almost no one called him Wanyin except those here... why not]

[weatherscience]

[ once they get to a suitable spots, she sits down, crossing her legs and nodding thoughtfully. ]

Huh, I see... So really, you have three names? [ that's a lot! ] Is your title like we have our monikers? Our captain is called "Straw Hat", our first mate is "Pirate Hunter", our helmsman is "Knight of the Sea"...

[ they're not titles, not in the same way, but then again... they kind of are.

when he gives her permission to call him by his birth name, she grins brightly. ] Mm! Jiang Cheng it is, then. I think I like how that sounds more!

[ a light laugh. ] I have nothing similar to offer... you'll just have to keep calling me Nami.

[lotus_of_rage]

Yes, three of them and depending on familiarity would be how someone referred to us. Those without much familiarity would likely use Jiang Wanyin, Sandu Shengshou is they are mainly familiar with the deeds I have done. Yes, I suppose "Sandu Shengshou" would be similar to those monikers.

[A faint smile crossed his face when she said she liked his birth name better]

It is fine. In truth, not all women choose a courtesy name or desire to go by it.

[weatherscience]

Well, I definitely don't have one! It's either my name or my moniker, but it's only really rival crews or Marines who call me Cat Burglar.

[ said with a wink.

her words are interrupted by a raindrop falling on her nose, making her look up at the sky that's rapidly starting to look very overcast. ]

Oh! See? We got the rain! [ she did predict this... and her meteorology skills shouldn't be underestimated! ]